Lehigh University's former president was one of the nation's top paid private college presidents in 2012.

Alice Gast, who stepped down in January to become president of Imperial College in London, made $884,907 in 2012, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education.

The Chronicle released a database Monday showing pay for presidents at almost 500 private colleges and universities. Other Lehigh Valley college presidents on the list were Muhlenberg President Peyton Helm, Lafayette College's former president Daniel Weiss and Moravian College's former leader Rev. Christopher Thomforde.

Gast's salary was ranked 50thoverall, according to the Chronicle. She earned more than 90 percent of other presidents in The Chronicle's survey.

Her base pay was $759,160 and increased by more than $31,000 from 2011 to 2012, and she also made $155,480 more than the next highest-paid employee at Lehigh.

It would take 21 Lehigh students paying full sticker price to pay her full compensation, The Chronicle noted.

The median pay for a private-college president was just under $400,000, according to the survey.

Weiss, who left in June 2013 for the same position at Haverford College, was paid $609,411 in 2012, the latest year available. He ranked 111th out of presidents. His base pay was $485,431.

The Chronicle figured that it would take 14.2 students paying full sticker price at Lafayette to pay Weiss' full compensation. He made $253,908 more than the next highest-paid employee at Lafayette.

Helm made $437,727 in 2012, which ranked 202 on The Chronicle's survey. His base pay of $388,106 was four times the average salary of full professors at Muhlenberg.

Former Moravian College President Rev. Christopher Thomforde, who has since retired, made $284,578 in 2012. He was ranked 365.

The University of Pennsylvania's Amy Gutmann made the most out of private college presidents in the state. She was paid $2,473,952 in 2012, which was fourth overall on The Chronicle's survey.

Shirley Ann Jackson, president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York, was the highest paid president on the survey. She made $7,143,312 in 2012.